Aurora R10, liquid cooler fan replacement?

quite a few smart and enthusiastic members have done the leg work on R9 which has the same case as R10.  one can presume Dell has not changed the front and top fan size from R9-10.

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/New-Alienware-Aurora-Ryzen-9-3950X/td-p/7414813

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Aurora-R9-Fans-speed-up-and-go-loud/td-p/7424081

@Anonymous good to know it is 120mm confirmed.  in some of the threads Cass mentioned 140 mm which was disputed by other. 

what makes a non OEM 120 mm fan much quieter than Dell fan?  I am more familiar with the old Dell 120mm front fans in old XPS series.  Someone said Dell used Nidec PWM fans that are server grade or industrial class.  server grade might mean workhorse long life time?  Industrial might mean high cfm without running crazy high rpm?   

@Anonymous , @redxps630 :

Here's a good article on Noctua's site about industrial PPC fans.

https://noctua.at/en/industrial-applications

At the end of the day, for PC applications, we really care about these:

CFM - how much unobstructed airflow the fan can provide

Static Pressure - how much obstruction the fan can overcome with its push/pull

Factors such as bearing design (fluid dynamic vs ball bearing) and fan blade shape will influence how much CFM/ static pressure is produced at a certain speed and noise level.

Good fans like Noctuas and Corsairs will give you a great balance between speed, noise, and performance. Remember we had that great debate with about using the ML120 Pro to replace the stock Nidec when someone said the ML120 Pro was weak? That's because of the balance of these factors. I still think the ML120 Pro is the best choice to replace the stock Nidec because while it's true that the Nidec has superior pushing power, it is unnecessary. Furthermore, when normalized against the noise they generate, the ML120 Pro wins.

Why do I say the Nidec is unnecessary? Because the AIO radiator doesn't get any benefit from higher static pressure. Before you can even tap the higher end of the Nidec's pushing power, the radiator has maxed out because there's no way air can wick away the heat from the small surface area faster than the source (CPU) saturating it with heat. Some benchmarkers could "cheat" by dunking the entire radiator into a bucket of ice but that's a story for a different day.

@GTS81  that was some of the best and easy to understand explanation of Nidec fan. I am learning a lot from it at the end of day.  thank you.  

Now I see why server rooms are warm and noisy. those stacks of rack mounted machines need powerful fans on 24/7.  the energy core of the Matrix.

seems Dell did not mind some revved up startup noise in XPS 630i (my first Dell gaming pc) and 730X which had exterior design of American muscle cars. That aggressive badass stance got lost in later XPS. Now the 8930 follows modern minimalist subdued style. Alienware likewise from Godzilla alien battleship to the current R9/10 mini space pod?  Gamers prefer machine to stay quiet and cool now like nuclear subs.

I got 2 Corsair ML120 Pro fans. The front fan gives a bios error but in alienware's software it reports the fan speed and temp correctly. The top fan goes at 100% all the time and doesn't have any info (speed/temp) listed in the alienware control software. I did also try switching front and top fans but got same results (and let me tell you working in that case is not a great experience). I assume there was some bios update for the R10 that "fixed" the R7-R9 allowing those fans to work. 

The most disappointing thing is when gaming and the fans do go all the way up - it IS clearly quieter but now that the fans won't slow down when just browsing the web it is also louder.

@KiXeLsiD :

I assume there was some bios update for the R10 that "fixed" the R7-R9 allowing those fans to work. 

Definitely won't rule this one out. R7 and XPS 8930 users were happily using Noctua NF12x25 PWM as the top fan until one day it stopped working out of the blue. Many suspected a BIOS update "fixed" the problem and that's how we arrived at ML120Pro-or-Dell-stock. So yeah, if this is the situation for R10, then it's another round of finding a suitable replacement fan.

BTW, what happens if you plugged in a non-PWM (DC) fan? Does the error go away?

Thanks for the helpful ideas. I have no answers how this worked but I put the original fans back in, ran the system for a bit, then put the new fans back in (same fan headers). I still got a bios error on start up the first time, but it now shows the top fan in the Alienware control panel. It does not run at full speed all the time, and even increases speed as needed. Oddly enough I have also not seen the BIOS error after several restarts.

Most importantly (so far) the Corsair ML120 PRO fans do make a rather significant difference in reducing noise. Now the fun part - playing more games to further test this.

Thanks for your help again.

Now you have to keep the system on without rebooting for fear the error comes back? 

Hi all,

I just replaced the front fan of my R10 with a Corsair ML120 Pro LED Blue and works just fine.  I haven't been able to find the non LED version in stock online to replace the top fan under the radiator.  I saw a youtube video of someone with an R8 replacing their top fan with a Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM, High Performance Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 1700 RPM (120mm, Grey).  Would this be the next best option?  Thank you in advance.

https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-redux-1700-high-Performance-Award-Winning-Affordable/dp/B07CG2PGY6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1549086768&sr=8-3&keywords=Noctua+NF-P12+redux&linkCode=sl1&tag=harryzhan-20&linkId=48fdeefff8ed895c467cd8707b1ecd4d&language=en_US

YouTube was on an R7 but mentions it should work on the R8 also.  Here is the link. Also I have the liquid cooled (R10) as opposed to the air cooled (R7) in the video if makes a difference in an aftermarket fan selection. 

https://youtu.be/_5pSuK0QtGg

@p4cm4n :

I thought that Noctua PWM fan used to work until a BIOS update late last year rendered that unusable. Maybe others here would know more. Do you have the link to that youtube video?

@Anonymous :

Thank you for watching that video because it'll take me a month to get to that if nobody else does. I'm a slob when it comes to watching videos which is why the 50-5000 things Linus/ Jay has thought everyone about PC modding, I missed out on them and bungled my way through.

Thanks guys for digging more into that. I will just have to wait for the Corsair ML120 Pro non LED to be available again. Will the non pro version work also? I know those are out of stock as well. 

No, the non-pro version will not work.

Thank you for the help

For my case, I used a Noctua NF-F12 PWM. After pluging my pump and the fan in the right headers, no boot error.

Very happy with this mod. It improved my life a lot. I now wait for a Noctua NF-S12A to replace the front fan.